The travails of the common man; an avoidable injustice

Seven years ago Suzanne lost her husband in a motor accident, an unfortunate event which left her a widow with seven children to raise; a task which she has committed to achieve. “My kids are all I have” says Suzanne. “I love them so much and would sacrifice anything for them. They are the reason I continue to live and struggle.”

Suzanne Mbakwe hails from Ikeduru LGA of Imo State, and earns a living as a food vendor in Kubwa market Abuja. Through her work, she has managed to raise savings from which she built an apartment for her family and ensures her children always have food to eat. The one thing she has not been able to provide for them, however, is an education. Having no extended family to help her, her little income is not sufficient to pay school fees. She is saddened that she cannot help her children, but is frustrated with the government. As she says, “government should build schools and provide free education for children, so that people like me can be able to send my children to school.”…

In that regard, Suzanne is correct; access to basic quality education is a human right and the Nigerian government has committed to providing it. Yet currently there are over 10 million Nigerian children out of school- the highest number in any country in the world. Those who are in school suffer from poor quality teaching and learning environments. This statistic is particularly shocking when the promising economic growth of the country is put in perspective. Statistics show that in the last decade, the Nigerian economy has grown by 89%, as a result, the country now boast of having the largest economy in Africa. Yet, paradoxically, this has not led to development of needed infrastructure and wealth creating amenities.  Hence poverty and denial of access still plague the average Nigerian.

Regimes after regimes of Nigerian governments have serially failed to provide basic infrastructure and wealth creating amenities as they struggle with finding a sustainable source of funds to finance development projects vis-à-vis the deeply rooted corruption in the country. Lack of steady funds for development projects is not just peculiar to Nigeria alone; it has proven to be the bane of development in most developing countries of the world.

Tellingly, when the development challenges of these countries are juxtaposed to the number of foreign investments in these countries, the question “where does all the revenue gotten from foreign investments go?” becomes obvious. Sadly, research shows that Africa and most developing countries despite being the hub of foreign investments lose a lot of money illicitly through tax dodging by multinational companies and granting of tax exemptions or tax holiday by the government of these countries. According to a report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), an estimated figure of about $854 billion was lost from Africa through Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) within the last two decades, of which trade manipulations by multinational companies contributed the most. These monies could have been used to fund and sustain development in these countries and as a result, reduce the cost of living in these regions. To worsen the situation, the misguided offer of tax incentives or tax waivers to multinational companies by the government as a lure to attract investment into the continent means that these companies take advantage of the best of the few available infrastructure, make massive profits on them, deny the common man and indigenous firms of access to them in the process, but conveniently avoid paying proportional taxes on the profits they make. Thus there is a thriving market for foreign investments in the region without the consequent capital benefits that should follow such investments.

Upon hearing of how foreign companies enjoy harmful tax benefits, while the common man like her paid tax, Suzanne said: “Any foreign company that does not want to pay tax, they should close the company because they are gaining from Nigeria but don’t want Nigeria to gain from them”. She then sums up the unfairness of the situation in one simple question- “we are paying tax in Kubwa market, therefore they will have to pay, is it not the same Nigeria?”

In retrospect, if foreign companies paid tax, and the tax money is duly reinvested to fund development as it should be, then the government wouldn’t have had to revert to regressive taxation to bridge the gap of lack of funds for development.  Consequently, there wouldn’t have been increased tax on everyday commodity, social injustice due to unfair taxation, and high cost of living in these areas. In other words, “the common man” like Suzanne would spend less on sustaining her family and be able to afford school fees for her children.

Until the Nigerian government stops granting tax exemptions to multinational companies, block all loopholes in the tax regulatory framework that allow these companies to dodge tax paying, and establish an international regulatory coordination with other African governments and governments of similarly affected countries, as well as governments of developed countries to stamp out tax dodging by multinationals from the continent and beyond, the common man like Suzanne will continue to bear the brunt, and the economy of the country would deceptively continue to grow while development of infrastructure and wealth creating amenities continue to shrivel- a situation akin to thirst in an ocean of water.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION- THE VERY GENESIS

Then the LORD God said, “it is not good that MAN should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him”….Then the MAN said, “this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called WOMAN, because she was taken out of MAN.”

And so it begins- the superiority complex of the male gender, powered by religion, reinforced by the traditions of men and enshrined as a norm of life. A man’s world indeed.

I am fairly certain that different religions have something similar to the above quotation gotten from the bible, elevating the male gender and purporting the opposite sex as a property named and owned by man. Imagine the plight of a household helper and picture the plight of women in men’s world.

Over the years, men have hidden behind the cloak of religion and tradition to commit crimes against women, making laws and shaping the existence of their property. How our society has deliberately chosen to be slaves to their own traditions and religion is baffling. How men chose to throw away the gift of freewill, perception and good judgment which religion itself espouses is again bewildering.  

I recall a post from a friend on Facebook to mark her brother’s birthday;

“Once upon a time .... A bouncing baby boy (BBB) was born to the family of (name withheld). He brought Joy to this family and registered his Mum's presence into this family as demanded by the Igbo culture. Today that BBB has grown into a Man still bringing Joy to his Family. To this I say a Happy Birthday to (Name withheld)”….

This personifies the world I live in, where the worth of a woman is cheapened by primitive traditional practices and religious bias.

And it only gets worse; a woman adopts her husband’s name at marriage, family recognition is built on male dominance. How about the woman breadwinner in the home, whose name is never remembered because her children must bear their father’s name or the name of their dead grandfathers? What of the single mother who still loses her name and has no lineage?  And so women have no right to inheritance because what they can achieve is dictated by the male gender that chooses to keep her eternally reliant on them. Explains why the rapist feels so powerful because the women have no right to deny him. No wander he beats his wife because he feels she belongs to him (“She is my WIFE!” they say). And the next male child is born into the society, greeted by cheers and adulation and instantly inherits a position of superiority over the opposite sex without any input from him.

Lest am misconstrued, it is a given that most gender offenses are committed by the male sex, but men are not the enemy.

“The problem is that mindset of superiority, that possessive mentality of the male gender, fueled by misguided interpretation and application of cultures and religious tenets.”

If our communities must be emancipated from mental slavery, value reorientation is key.  To redress gender imbalance in our societies, more women must occupy positions of power and be part of the decision makers. For starters, the government must weigh in heavily on this and provide a gender responsive society to even the playing field. And women from all climes must pick up the mantle and demand doggedly for women’s rights… Happy International Women’s Day! #Makeithappen

A VOICE FOR THE GIRL CHILD

October 11, 2014; oh that fateful day that will forever be ensconced in the depths of my memory.
October 11th of every year marks the commemoration of the International Day of the Girl Child. This day focus attention on the unique challenges girls face around the world and how to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.
In the morning of 10th October 2014, I went to work brimming with enthusiasm to execute the activities that had been diligently planned to mark this year's International Day of the Girl Child. At around 8pm, after a full day’s office toil, I set-out with a colleague to hang banners bearing messages advocating for the provision of safe schools for girls by our government.

The plan was to hang the banners at 10 strategic locations in Abuja, where the messages would be clearly revealed to the thousands of people commuting to work the next morning. This was almost achieved but for an unfortunate run-in. A run-in that forever changed me. 


We worked tirelessly against the overwhelming urge to sleep; drained of perspiration and forced to adopt nocturnal abilities we never knew we had. We succeeded in hanging 7 of the 10 banners and proceeded gleefully to hang the remaining ones before retiring longingly to our beds for a much deserved night’s rest. Unfortunately, just after midnight, as we were hanging the 8^th banner, we were accosted by plain-clothed gunmen who we later discovered were officers of Abuja Environmental Protection Agency.

We were whisked into their patrol vehicle without explanation; our office vehicle was commandeered and our remaining banners seized. We had no clue as to why we were arrested. Panic stricken, we struggled to make sense of what just happened, we asked the officer by the door but were vehemently shut down. Still trying to reconcile what had just transpired, I was jolted out of my thoughts by the voices of young girls who looked battered and bruised, seating right behind us.
It then dawned on my colleague and I what was going on. Over and over, the patrol vehicles would stop and pick more girls who were promptly labelled sex workers (to put it mildly). Unsuspecting private vehicles were stopped, any female passenger in such vehicles were abused, humiliated, profiled as a prostitute and forcefully thrown into the patrol car. Girls who attempted to resist were beaten and lifted into the car. Their male counterparts were left unquestioned. After holding us for over 2 hours, we were released but the girls were not. I have no idea what happened to those girls.

The tragic irony of the situation did not escape me; here we were, just past midnight on the International Day of the Girl Child, witnessing first-hand the abuse of women and girls from the hands of the very people who were supposed to protect them.
The disdainful and venomous manner in which these girls were treated is just a reflection of the valuation and plight of women in today’s society. Violence and crimes against women and girls go unpunished daily. 

Our government has failed woefully to protect women and girls; schools are unsafe and unresponsive to the needs of the girl child, social structures are not gender friendly, and the room for female participation in public spaces continues to shrink daily. Girls and women are subdued and defined by unreasonable religious and cultural laws. Our society has gradually stripped the girl child of individuality, of the power of the self. She is only but a property whose attributes are dictated by the society.

October 11, 2014, in retrospect, was indeed a fateful day. I will remember it not as the night that I was detained by the police, but the night I became a full-fledged champion of women's suffrage; to forever advocate for fair and equal treatment for girls and women in our society.
I hope that my story inspires you to lend a voice for the protection of the rights of the girl child as well.

Written by: KennyOleru, ActionAid Nigeria

NIGERIA-STOPPING THE DEVELOPMENT ROT

As one of the few people who chose not to travel during the festive period, I had the rare leisure of sleeping non-stop and indulging the lazy part of my personality which has forcefully being rendered passive by the unending but welcome demands of earning a living.

Missing the laughter and company of loved ones I desperately sought for activities to occupy the mind and pretend to be busy. Then I opted to work on my small apartment, just to fix a few issues. Next thing I knew, I was renovating the whole house. What started as a simple time-passing activity became a mentally and physically demanding activity.

Then it struck me, renovation is no easy task at all. The outcome of a good renovation work is both aesthetically pleasing and rewarding in improved utility. Renovation at times requires total demolition of the old and rebuilding from the scratch. It could require plucking holes, drilling, painting, or reshaping of an existing structure.

Make no mistakes; a hastily planned and executed renovation work is an accident waiting to happen. The quality and magnitude of the effort that is invested in executing a renovation task are therefore strategically critical. The outcome of a renovation work actually reflects the quality of the effort- planning, skillset and expertise of the effort. It also shows the magnitude of the effort which points to the capacity to deliver a said volume of work within a fixed timeframe. A lousy renovation attempt could actually do more damage than good. Such renovation efforts end up leaving holes on the fabrics of a structure and weakening the foundations (in which case the structure becomes a death trap), or even papering over the cracks while the main problem persists under the shadows unresolved.

Unfortunately, this is akin to the kind of development interventions/efforts that have been offered by the different Nigerian governments over the years. Nigeria is in great need of thorough renovation work but the efforts that have been invested so far have been kwashiorkored, deceptive and often lacking planning and expertise. The promise of change still remains elusive.

We must begin to ask ourselves why past efforts to positively change our country have not yielded the desired effects. What have we been doing wrongly? In the attempt to fix the development challenges of the country, have we adopted the wrong strategies? Have we ended up leaving holes and weakening the structure? Are we building on a faulty foundation? We must begin to question the quality and magnitude of the efforts invested, perhaps the change process has been left in the hands of unskilled and inept politicians. How much faith do we really have in the quality of the effort and how much more failed renovation attempts can be managed before the structure collapses? Can we afford one more leadership calamity?

The impending general elections offer the opportunity for swift and decisive actions. Personally, I have seen enough of the old. I yearn for and deserve to be wowed. President Jonathan’s leadership track is well known, having progressed from deputy governor to governor, vice president, interim president and now president. He is presently no longer able to surprise me, as a man cannot perform beyond his capabilities nor can he escape his personality. Put simply, Jonathan is Jonathan and I may have seen it all. The same can be said of the other old heads like Buhari. These men currently hold no promise of change. They have played their cards, their hands have been shown.

Nigeria is in dire need of renovation; the type that holds palpable promise of change, driven by vision and engineered by a skilled, passionate, radical and luminous leadership. It is clear that the current leadership class cannot offer this. We must therefore look beyond the Buhari’s and the recycled PDP brotherhood. We need fresh ideologies, perspectives and strategies that will inspire belief, and restore confidence in the system. As luck would have it, this is still very much achievable as the process of change is like a rolling wheel that always comes full circle, we just need to ruggedly persist in demanding change.